by Joe Fowler
The packs were bragging and arguing over who killed the most wolves, other than Rosalyn and me. The consensus was that Jimmy could claim that honor. I regretted having to fight wolves in the first place, I wasn’t liking their bragging. I looked to Seth to see if he was in the happy or regretful column. He was sitting on the hood of my car with his head bowed. I took that as a little regretful.
“I was too angry to talk to the alpha. All things pointed to this outcome, so I went ahead and instigated it. Now, I wish I hadn’t.” I confessed to Seth when I joined him at my car. He looked at me and nodded.
“The fight couldn’t be avoided. That was the classic rogue pack. All they want is to fight and show their dominance. I have been doing this very thing for hundreds of years.” Seth said with a sigh.
“I don’t get it though. Gabriel even said that wolves got the honorable, good spirit from the wolf. Why are there rogue packs and how do they find so many to join them?” I asked since that question was bothering me.
“Remember the vampire ratio? Ninety-eight or ninety-nine out of a hundred are evil?” Seth saw my nod and continued. “It is the opposite with us. I guess the best way of looking at it is to know that something can’t be all good or all bad, there will always be exceptions. With us, maybe one or two out of a hundred turn bad. The problem is that when one of those bad wolves bites a human, that human turns bad as well. I’ve never understood how that could be. It’s like the bad nature is contagious and passes through the bite like a disease.”
“That explains a lot. I wish it could be different.” I looked down at my feet. I wasn’t proud of my actions here. That it was necessary was the only reason I did it.
The celebration went on for a while. Some dancing started which really brought on the laughter. Thomas in particular was worth laughing at. As coordinated as wolves are, it looks like we would dance better, but not Thomas. Each time I started to lighten up and enjoy myself, I would see blood stains from the fight. We rounded up the bodies and moved them to the side but the blood in the dirt surrounding the house brought back the memories from the fight. I had seen enough blood for one lifetime.
As the party wound down, Alicia and I made our way to bed. It would be wonderful to be able to hold her and know she was safe again. Being away from her was getting harder and harder all the time. Now with the baby on the way, I expected that to get even worse. I wanted to be by her side nonstop. We didn’t talk when we got into bed. It seemed she felt the same as I did. We just wanted to be able to hold each other for a while and forget about witches and rogue werewolf packs.
Chapter 8
I woke to the sound of arguments. What now? I rose without disturbing Alicia. I wanted her to be able to get whatever rest she could. I knew she must have been so worried these last few days. I got dressed and went to see what the trouble was.
“What do you mean trying to arrest him? He was saving our lives!” Jimmy was on the verge of attacking the cop that was standing in the yard. Seth laid a restraining hand on him to bring him back under control.
“Do you have proof of that? I have three witnesses that say Josh openly attacked and killed their alpha for no reason. These witnesses say they were here to help see if they could welcome you to the neighborhood and to offer help. Then Josh pulls up and kills their alpha. If he is innocent, he will have a chance to prove it in court.” The cop said.
“These were rogue wolves. They were hounding and threatening our packs. If Josh hadn’t killed their alpha, then I would have done it myself.” Seth told him.
“If they were in danger, why didn’t they just leave?” The cop asked.
“Because our tires got slashed by them. They didn’t want us to leave, they wanted to fight. If Josh and Seth didn’t get here in time, our bodies would be the ones needing to be cleaned up.” Jimmy explained.
“Well, if that is the case you will need to have proof. Three eyewitnesses all saying the same thing is pretty tough to beat in court. I am not leaving here without arresting Josh. You might as well face that.” The cop put his hand on his gun when he said made that statement. He must not understand how useless his gun was in this situation.
“I will go peacefully.” I said this to a lot of protest from the packs. I walked out to the cop who relaxed noticeably. I emptied my pockets, giving my keys and wallet to Seth. I turned to the cop and waited expectantly. He reached for handcuffs and I almost laughed. “Those won’t be necessary and they won’t do any good on me anyway.”
“Why not?” The cop asked halting his progress with the cuffs.
“I could break them as easily as if they were made of paper. I said I would go peacefully. You will have to take my word on that.” I told him.
He looked from me to Seth and shook his head. He sighed and returned the cuffs to the side of his belt. He walked to the patrol car and opened the door, looking expectantly at me. I didn’t hesitate, I walked over and got into the backseat.
“Oh yeah, sorry. You have the right to remain silent….” As he read me my rights, I looked around at the packs. Sarah was crying and being held back by Cynthia and Crystal. Seth gave me a nod to say I was doing the right thing. We helped put the vampire laws in place and were the main enforcers of those laws. It would be bad if the nation saw us defying the authorities now. I understood this.
The trip to the jail was a quiet little journey. I found myself reflecting on my past and realized this was the first time I had been in trouble with the law. My mother raised me without much discipline. Her only restrictions were for me to stay safe and not get into any trouble with the police. Of course, I didn’t know then that she worshipped a demon who turned out to be my father. Keith, who turned out to be the archangel Gabriel, reigned in my evil ways and kept me from causing trouble in the first place. Nothing, including my parents and friends, had been what they seemed.
I hated that Alicia would wake to find me gone. She would only worry more now. She was my heart. The thought of her being unhappy made me want to kick the door off and run back to her. I needed to do this though. I was in a situation where I must trust in the system to get this right. I was fairly sure that Seth was on the phone with the President by now. As bad as I hated it, the President’s intervention might be a bad thing. I’m sure there would be a fuss over his siding with me when he showed strict adherence to the law when it came to vampires. I hoped he would do the right thing.
The booking process went pretty quickly. They had me fingerprinted and in the cell with no hang-ups. My cell was a little small but I didn’t expect a luxury suite. They put me in my own cell, while the adjoining cell held four men. This didn’t set well with them. Apparently, they had been moved to the same cell to make room for me.
“Why does he get his own cell when we have to be crowded into this one?” One large guy said as he pounded on the bars.
“That man committed multiple murders last night. Do you really want to share a cell with him?” The cop teased.
“He’s nothing but a scrawny rat. I ain’t afraid of him.” The large man said. He walked to the wall of bars between our cells and started threatening me. “If I get my hands on you I will make you pay for this, you little bastard.”
I decided to scare him instead of talking. I partially changed my face into a scary midpoint of my wolf form. All four of the men in the next cell shrank back against the far wall and hollered for the guard not to leave them that close to me. I let my human face return knowing there wouldn’t be any more threats.
“I guess you boys won’t be messing with him anymore, will ya?” The cop was laughing at their reaction.
“You can’t leave us in here with him, he’ll kill us.” The large idiot that was complaining earlier said.
“Jed, if he wanted to hurt you, there’s no way I could stop it. I doubt these bars could hold him if he wasn’t letting them. Just don’t bother him.” The cop turned to leave but looked back at me and said, “Thanks for not running or putting up a fight, Mr. Thorne. So you know, I
‘m extremely grateful for all you did during the war. I’m very sorry I had to arrest you. I almost didn’t.”
“You are doing your job. I don’t hold that against you.” I said to ease his conscience. He nodded and closed the door behind him.
“Holy shit! You’re Josh Thorne?” Jed asked.
“Yep.”
“What did you do? I can’t believe they would arrest you for anything.” Jed was approaching the bars between cells again.
“I killed the leader of the local werewolf pack last night. He and his pack were rogue wolves. They were threatening my pack.” I explained.
“What is a rogue wolf? I thought all werewolves were good.” Jed wasn’t alone at the bars now. All four were there.
“About one or two out of a hundred who are bitten, turn out bad. They use their strength to intimidate and hurt others. The biggest problem with them is every person they turn becomes as bad as they are. Once I killed the alpha last night, the rest of his pack attacked. Rosalyn, my pack, and Seth’s pack joined the fight. Three of them ran instead of fighting. They went to the cops and accused me of murder. With three men swearing that I attacked for no reason, the cops didn’t have a choice. They needed to arrest me.” I sat back on my bed after my little speech was done.
“That is just wrong. How many wolves were there in the bad pack?” Jed seemed full of questions now.
“Maybe forty or so. I didn’t count.”
“Wow. Is Rosalyn as pretty in person?” This was asked by a short pudgy man.
“She is as beautiful as you can imagine a woman to be. I-” I cut my sentence short when I heard Alicia’s voice. I held up my hand to the men in the other cell. She was in a fury trying to get back here to see me.
The cops relented and let her and Seth through. Her eyes showed signs of intense crying. It broke my heart to see. Since I’ve known her, I’ve been the cause of too many of her tears. I got up and moved to the door.
“Sweetie, you didn’t need to come here.” I began.
“This is wrong! After all you’ve done for this country! Hell, the world! They need to learn the rules about werewolves. That pack was rogue and had to be killed.” Alicia was almost screaming now.
Without thinking of what I was doing, I opened the door of the cell. The steel lock gave way and clanked to the floor. I didn’t give it a second glance. I knew I needed to hold my wife. If she needs me, I will be there, bars be damned.
“Hey! You aren’t trying to escape are you?” There was a different cop from before that escorted them in. He was grabbing for his gun with panic in his eyes.
“No. Don’t draw your gun, there’s no need. Josh needed to comfort Alicia is all.” Seth said in a calming manner. The cop looked from the door to me and back to Seth. He didn’t know what to do.
“If I weren’t willing to be here, I wouldn’t have let myself be arrested. Relax, I’m not going anywhere.” I reassured him.
The cop calmed down enough to stop shaking. He backed to the door and took up a position there to watch us. Alicia’s arms were around me while I was stroking her hair. Seth took one more look at the cop to make sure he was back to normal before turning to me. I guess he wanted to let me know something.
“What? I can see it in your eyes.” I said.
“I called the President. He wanted to have them drop the charges but I told him no. I mainly called him so he could arrange for a really good lawyer. He is doing that right now. I told him to expect a conference to set up laws governing rogue wolves. After I explained what really happened, he agreed that steps needed to be taken. We will see to that after the witch is dead. The witch brings up a whole new set of problems for us. She will know where we are now. She won’t be able to get to you but the rest of us will be left open.” Seth’s words brought back the primary problem.
“I had almost forgotten about her.” I squeezed Alicia a little tighter and looked back to Seth. “Seth, you need to take the packs and run before she gets here.”
“No! I’m staying until you are free. And don’t give me any of that ‘it would be safer’ crap.” Alicia’s tone didn’t allow for an argument. Seth smiled after she spoke. He knew her well enough to know she wasn’t budging.
“I’m not leaving either. I know she might show up and take control over me but you will need my testimony. She won’t try anything in public anyway. Truthfully, if she gets control of me I think she would leave the packs alone. She will believe I can handle you well enough and feel confident.” Seth started explaining but wasn’t seeing the obvious flaw in his plan. I could see it plainly enough.
“She would have reason to be confident, Seth. I would rather they convict me than end up losing the fight with you and opening the door for Lucifer.”
“I think a fight between us would be much closer than you believe. I was thinking about leaving with the packs, like you said. Then it hit me. If you could beat me, without killing me would be nice, then no innocent wolves would be harmed. If I run, then we are back to killing them.” Seth sighed.
I was speechless. Seth really thought I was a match for him now. I didn’t. If he’s right, we could kill the witch without any collateral damage. That would be awesome. If he’s wrong, then Lucifer rises.
Chapter 9
I sat in front of the judge. We were awaiting his decision on whether this would go to trial. We all knew it would. With three eyewitnesses, they didn’t have a choice. The cameras and news crews were having a field day with all of this. From what I understood, every station interrupted their normal programming to announce my arrest. Hundreds of people gathered outside the courthouse to protest.
“Mr. Thorne, what I’m about to say is very unusual but this is not an ordinary case. This will have to go to trial, I can’t stop that. I believe you really thought you were doing the right thing but the laws are clear. Your case will be decided by a jury of your peers, well twelve people anyway, I don’t guess they can really be considered your peers. You will be free on your own without bail. Since you cooperated and allowed us to hold you in the first place, you might as well spend this time with your family and friends. I can see you are not the type to run…” The judge set the date for the trial and ended the session, much to my relief.
Once all the procedures were taken care of, we headed to the house where the pack was staying. Since all the wolves were at the courthouse, I didn’t need to rehash any of it. They could sense my reluctance to talk about it. We drank beer and sat on the porch without much conversation.
“I am still worried about this plan, Seth. I know it offers the best outcome but that hinges on me beating you in a fight. I don’t like my odds.” The rest of the wolves all looked shocked by this.
“Wait, the two of you will fight each other? No way!” Cynthia said in shock.
“No one can beat you, Seth!” Jimmy exclaimed. His was the loudest of many.
“Everyone!” Seth held up his hand for silence. They obeyed immediately. “I have thought this through. I went through every angle and option open to us. If we go with the old plan, we will need to kill as many as a hundred or so innocent werewolves. If the witch gains control of you guys, some of you might end up dying. I can’t allow that. Once she has control over me, she will leave the rest of you alone. Then everything would depend on Josh beating me to get to her. I watched Josh through the vampire battles and I know some of what he was capable of two years ago. At the rate Josh’s power grows, he should be at least at even match for me now. The rest of the world, including the witch, doesn’t know that yet.”
“Hell, I don’t know that yet.” I mumbled. There was some laughter at my words. Seth laughed as well.
“Trust me, Josh. If I didn’t think you could do this, I wouldn’t be planning it.” Seth tried to assure me.
“Well, the fight won’t happen today. Somebody needs to go get more beer.” I said as I finished the one in my hand.
“Come on Jonathan. Let’s go make a beer run.” Jimmy offered.
Jon
athan and Jimmy were becoming close friends. They liked the same stupid jokes and shared views on most subjects. The rest of our packs all liked Jonathan but agreed that Jimmy’s love of bad jokes shouldn’t be encouraged this much. I was hearing more groans every day those two were around each other.
“I wonder if the witch will wait until the trial is over. She could just as easily show up here today.” I stated.
“I know. I’ve asked myself the same question. Austin was here last night. He said she was still in Atlanta. She will probably think things through for a while. Gabriel told us that Josef was the mastermind, maybe she isn’t as bright. We can hope anyway. We will deal with it as necessary. Today, tomorrow, or whenever.” Seth sounded more relaxed than he was. I knew he was showing confidence to keep the packs’ fears in check.
We sat back and tried to enjoy the day. It would still be over an hour before Rosalyn could join us. I was told she found my arrest to be funny as hell. It wasn’t hard to picture her laughing at the image of me behind bars. Some of the wolves were finding it amusing as well. They understood how easily I could walk out anytime I felt like it.
I might have made it even funnier to them. I told them how I walked out of my cell the morning after my arrest. I smelled coffee brewing and wanted a cup. The cops were nervous at first but after they saw I only wanted coffee, they laughed too. When I told the packs about it, Jimmy was hurting from laughing so hard.
I was glad to see that spirits were high even with the problems this would cause. Alicia was the big exception. She was mad enough to rip those cops to pieces. I imagined she would love to get her hands on the three rogues that accused me of murder. As tiny as she was, she had a temper. It was adorable.
